


Outsider

by Ch0z0



Category: Bleach
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dystopia, Government Brainwashing, M/M, Policeman Ichigo, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-04
Updated: 2019-03-17
Packaged: 2019-06-21 16:50:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15562182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ch0z0/pseuds/Ch0z0
Summary: He doesn't know if there's anybody outside, but he needs to get out of this ridiculous city. His life is tedious, his friend vanished into thin air and Uryu thinks The Council are probably spying on him, where's a Hollow when you need one?! [Eventual Gri/Ich]





	1. More of the same, please!

6:00 AM: the humming, irritating buzz of alarm pierced sleep, just as it had every morning for the past 20 years of life. Ichigo lifted his body from the comfort of his standard-issue mattress and dragged his hand down his face. Shuffling over to his dresser, he dug out a clean uniform before ducking under the too-low doorway that led to his en-suite wet room. In the apartment next to him, and the one next to that and the one next to that, on every floor above and below his for 20 floors and in countless other buildings across the entire city his routine was mirrored almost perfectly. It was the same every single day.  
It fucking sucked.  
Barely glancing at his reflection, the ginger brushed his teeth for exactly two minutes and watched the foam slip down the plug hole with tired eyes. Today was going to be long – just like every other day at his dead-end job. Some days – and it was definitely one of those – he really wondered if it was even worth turning up, or being alive for that matter. He tried not to dwell too hard on the alternatives. With a final sigh, he twisted off the tap and set about taming his uncontrollable bed head to start his day.

The shuttle to his office provided even less stimulation – a drift through grey, white and pristine glass for half an hour was definitely not on Ichigo’s top ten views, but he guessed it beat having to walk through the alleys of Noches. He’d rather still have his phone and all his internal organs by the time he reached work. At least it wasn’t an ordeal suffered alone. Uryu Ishida, an old school friend of his, met him every morning at their meeting place – their preferred table outside of the dispensary office at the base of their apartment building. Ichigo was a minute later than he usually was on this morning, and he knew Uryu probably wouldn’t be happy.  
True to form, the bespectacled young man grunted as he appeared and slid his morning “meal” across the table with a disgruntled look. “You’re making me wait, Kurosaki.” He snapped, “If I’m late to work, I _swear_ it’ll be the end of you.”  
“I didn’t ask you to wait, dipshit” is what Ichigo badly wanted to say to his friend, but he wasn’t about to suffer a shuttle ride in absolute silence and settled for snatching up Uryu’s bottle of water (reusable, of course) along with his package. Ignoring the indignant splutters, he popped the foil and observed the pill inside. “Purple? Man…”  
Uryu instantly perked up at the grimace on his face, “Maybe you should have been on time then, idiot.” He snatched his bottle away from the other man’s grip as soon as “breakfast” had disappeared past his lips and rose from the metal seating. “Come on, don’t make me late.”  
“Alright, alright. Chill out, dude.” Ichigo dug through his pockets for his transport pass-cum-identification card and pinned it to the front of his grey blazer before following the dark-haired man down the steps to the subway station under their apartment block. Working for a company based in Seireitei definitely had its perks – including housing in a building with transport links and meal provision.  
The shuttle rolled up before they waited in the warm, humid of the underground station for too long, and the two men stepped into cabin doorway along with five or six others and waited for the doors to shut before sitting down on one of the many uncomfortable plastic benches. Distantly, they heard the soft hiss of the disinfectant passing into their airspace and the two pulled a face at each other before Uryu pulled out his work-issued tablet and Ichigo dug his headphones out of his briefcase. The rest of the journey passed in silence apart from an occasional comment from either party. Ichigo rested his head against the clean glass and glared out at their grey city. Every day was fucking boring.  


There was no mistaking when the shuttle passed through the central area of the city and through into Seireitei. The sea of grey concrete gradually transitioned and became sterile white and glass. Between one station and the next there was a considerable drop in the amount of people in grey suits dragging their feet around. Suddenly people were walking around at their own pace, relaxed looks gracing their faces. Passing through the last few Central stations and the first few Seireitei stations always made Ichigo feel depressed, so he sunk further into the seat and turned his music up. Not that it could go much higher, with the Council-imposed safe sound levels and all. He felt Uryu shift beside him and glanced across, catching his furrowed brows as he glared at his tablet screen.  
“What’s up?” Ichigo murmured, sliding his headphones onto his neck and sitting up just a little straighter in his seat. Uryu wordlessly thrust his tablet into the ginger’s hands with a huff and Ichigo raised his eyebrows at the headline of the news page he had been reading. “He’s re-opening the clinic? Jeez, that guy has no shame.” He passed the tablet back to his travelling companion. A photograph of Professor Ishida had graced the news article, the man in question standing in front of one of the family’s many research and development centres.  
“I just can’t believe he’d stoop this low. People died, and he just doesn’t even seem to care.” Uryu raised a hand to cradle his forehead. Ichigo could practically see a stress migraine taking root. “How am I supposed to talk to anyone at work after this? Ugh, Kurostuchi is going to be unbearable.”  
Ichigo clapped his shoulder sympathetically, “Look, I gotta get off in a sec but I’ll message you when I get a chance and we can hook up after work, okay?” When Uryu only groaned in response he chuckled to himself, standing, and tapped his briefcase on his friend’s leg with what he hoped was a reassuring grin.  
“It could be worse, dude. You could be working Security.”

When Ichigo arrived at the Seireitei Security office building, he sorely wished he had stayed in bed or throttled himself in his bathroom instead. Sitting on his desk was a four-high pile of thick paperwork. Paperwork with an ominous flower stamped on the cover. He slid into his seat and unceremoniously dumped the entire stack onto the knee-high filing cabinet next to his desk, precariously close to the bin resting on the floor next to it.  
Dark eyes slid around the side of the desk divider and his partner shot him a sympathetic smile. “I’ve got some as well, he’s really on the warpath today, huh?” Rukia stood and slinked around into his space. Even though he was sat on his chair, she didn’t quite reach his height. She slid a few sheets of paper and her pen towards him, “Also I really need your signature for these, _boss_.”  
Ichigo shot her a dark look and snatched her pen out of her hand – duly noting the cheap rabbit design half-wiped off from use. He tossed it onto his desk and picked up his own ink pen, ignoring her choked noise. Briefly, he skimmed his eyes over and then scrawled his messy signature onto the pages. He leaned back and dragged his eyes up to meet Rukia’s.  
“What’s wrong with Byakuya today to cause all this paperwork? Why are we even doing this, we don’t work in this area!” He spun his chair and grabbed the first folder as Rukia sunk back and sat on the edge of his desk.  
“He probably got annoyed because you’d finished all your paperwork on time for once.” She giggled, reading the pages over his arms. “Although, that one does sound really interesting, Ichigo.”  
She reached out to take the first page and he swatted her hands away, “I’m still reading, go do your own paperwork for once.”  
Rukia snorted at him and slid off his desk, “Okay, okay. Just give me a couple of minutes before you want to head out on that case, okay?”

-  
-

The Council  
ðə ˈkaʊns(ə)l  
Noun  
1) Governing body responsible for citizens of The City  
Located within the Central district, specifically within The Council Plaza

Seireitei  
seɪreɪteɪ  
Location  
1) The least impoverished area of The City  
2) Location of many important organisations, including (but not limited to) Security, The Quincy Group, The Happy Breakfast Company.

Las Noches  
lɑːz nəʊʧɛs  
Location  
1) The most impoverished area of The City  
2) Suspected home address for most individuals identifiable as Hollow

Central  
ˈsɛntrəl  
Noun  
1) At the point or in the area that is in the middle of something  
2) Of the greatest importance; principal or essential.  
Location  
1) The most densely populated district of The City  
2) The home address for 60% of The City's workforce, excluding those working for The Council

Security  
sɪˈkjʊərɪti  
noun  
1) Resilience against potential harm  
2) Law enforcement organisation based in The City and presided over by The Council.  
Hierarchy begins with Constables at lowest rank, surpassed by Sergeants, Inspectors, Chief Inspectors, Superintendents and finally ends with Chief Superintendents.  
Place of operations is located within the Seireitei District (see below)

Professor Ishida  
prəˈfɛsə ɪʃidɑ  
Person of Interest  
1) Sole parent of estranged son Uryu Ishida  
2) CEO of the Quincy Group  
3) Lead researcher at 7 Research and Development centres owned by the Quincy Group.  
4) Lead researcher in Project 4572 which resulted in the death of 42 members of staff

Happy Breakfast Company  
ˈhæpi ˈbrɛkfəst ˈkʌmpəni  
Person of Interest  
1) Research group commissioned by The Council to produce Happy Breakfast Pills (TM)  
One Happy Breakfast Pill, taken in the morning after waking up, provides perfect nutrition for the human body throughout the day. Required water not included in standard Council subscriptions.  
2) Owners of the Happy Milk Company, providing nutritionally complete milk to schools, hospitals and homes of Council workers


	2. Protest

Ichigo decided that he absolutely hated Rukia’s brother. Most family members would give you preferential treatment, but no, Security Superintendent Byakuya Kuchiki gave _zero_ fucks that he was Rukia’s partner and consistently gave him the worst cases he could find. They had spent the entire last month dealing with nothing but petty theft and truancy cases. And there was nothing Ichigo hated more than kids. Although Rukia was pretty excited to be heading out of Seireitei for a job, Ichigo severely doubted anything interesting was going to come of the case.

“Would you slow the fuck down?” He snapped, tugging back his shorter companion by her arm “We don’t need to be in such a rush all the time!”  
She huffed, but fell back to Ichigo’s slower pace. “I just think it sounds really interesting is all, its not like things like this happen all the time, Ichigo.” She shot him a sidelong smirking look “And it would be a good opportunity to get in my brother’s good books.”  
Ichigo sorely doubted that anything he did could get him into Byakuya’s “good books” short of moving to a different office. “Just chill out, okay? We don’t even know for sure that anything’s gonna happen today, it was just one anonymous message. You get excited too easily.”

They walked the rest of the way in relative silence, apart from the occasional crackly audio from their radio communicators. Ichigo hated jobs in this area – the area right in the middle of The City where The Council buildings were. It was always just such a ballache trying to get anything done around their personal guards, assholes who constantly stood in the way of proper justice. It was just as well he wasn’t here to speak to anyone from The Council today. Hopefully they weren’t here to do much of anything today other than stand around and look intimidating. With any luck they could prevent the situation entirely, but luck rarely dealt Ichigo and Rukia such a gentle hand.

The Council refused to have a shuttle station installed near to their plaza, so the pair decided to walk the small distance from one of the quieter shuttle stops, rather than calling for a Security Mobile Unit to escort them. It was almost refreshing, Ichigo sometimes thought, to walk amongst those faded grey tower blocks after spending the majority of their patrols in the pale, clean streets of Seireitei. Most of the buildings in Seireitei reached only ten or so floors height at most, where almost all of the buildings in the Central area had a limited amount of floor space per lot, and so tended to be built upwards to around twenty, thirty, even forty floors for some of the less expensive units. In contrast, the buildings of ‘Noches tended to be both short and narrow, so gaining space in an area like that was truly something to be envious of.

Even more so than the glass walls of the Seireitei buildings, Ichigo hated The Council buildings. A series of pure white monolith-type structures with few windows, all linked together by suspended glass tunnel bridges every few floors. The buildings were not tall, compared with their grey concrete neighbours, but neither were they short, like some of the luxurious homes in Seireitei were. Very few worked for The Council, but it was public knowledge that they lived, breathed and worked in the same building complex. Only rarely did they leave. It was a pathetic way of spending life, but it isn’t as if they got to choose, after all.

They were just rounding the corner, about to catch their first glimpse of the pure white buildings when it hit Ichigo and the pair stopped. Noise.  
Rukia cursed and fumbled to get her taser out of the holster. “I can’t believe they actually got this organised this early in the morning. It’s only 8:30, for crying out loud!” Ichigo only grunted in return before radioing in the news to the office.  
As the pair sped around the corner into the plaza, Ichigo seriously considered applying for a transfer. Maybe he’d be better off working in research with Uryu, or in medicine like his father. Surely nothing could be more draining than this. Lifting his eyes up to the steps that led up to the main door of The Council buildings and grit his teeth.

The protest was well underway, and the crowd had attracted more than Security had bargained for. He heard Rukia requesting backup at his side as he tried to take stock of the scene before him. The Council guards had formed a thick line in front of the door, and Ichigo doubted the protesters had the means to get past them. There was around a hundred men and women, mostly young. Probably Hollows, he supposed, based on the white masks slapped on a handful of faces. There was a clear group of leaders as well, three men at the tops of the stairs. Two of them riling up the crows while the other screamed passionately up at the guards and the door.

“Guess it’s personal for these guys.” He muttered to Rukia, unholstering his own taser. “Didn’t even know that guy was a Hollow.”  
She tutted and tugged her hat more securely onto her head, “We can’t even do anything with most of them, the guards are stopping them from trespassing. How annoying.” She glanced briefly up at him, “Bet we’re gonna have to get that guy at the front though. Not that he’s gonna make it easy.”  
Ichigo groaned internally. Three guesses which one of them would end up chasing some gangster protester across the city. He lifted his voice projector to his lips and began the script. “ **Attention, this is an unauthorised gathering. I must insist that you disperse and return to your places of work.** ”  
A scream ripped through the crowd, “What? You think these pussies can’t fucking handle us? What a joke!” Cheers and calls rippled around the plaza as the man who had been screaming at the guards had turned his attention on Ichigo and Rukia. “What the fuck is this, this shit is none of your business, Security dogs!” He screamed. His mask was cut off just above his mouth, assumedly so that he could project his voice without the need for any devices.  
Ichigo sighed and lifted his projector once again, “ **Disperse. This is not up for discussion. You are causing a disturbance.** ”

Of course it wasn’t going to work, as if they would just disperse – a group of this size. The Mobile Unit were en route, all they had to do was wait for them to arrive and ‘convince’ the group to leave, or else be subdued forcefully. He kind of hoped they wouldn’t leave. At least then calling the Mobile Unit would have something to do.  
He hadn’t, however, expected their most vocal protester to turn around and, pulling a gun from underneath his baggy jacket, shoot one of the guards straight in the gut. A sort of silence drifted across the plaza before an almost terrifying cheer rang up through the group and they swarmed forwards, towards the group of guards.

“For fuck’s sake!” Ichigo spat through grit teeth as he re-holstered his taser and switched out his firearm instead. He turned to Rukia, “Get back to the street and wait for backup, they’re nearly here. Shoot them if they come for you.”  
She turned to look up at him with wide eyes, “What the fuck are you talking about, you can’t go in there! They might _all_ be armed!” She reached for his arm, to stop him from being so _goddamn foolish_ , but he’d already turned and started to run towards the front of the building. He ignored her shout for him to come back, pleased when she cursed and moved back towards the street.

Ichigo was only interested in finding the leader of the group, the only one he’d seen to be in possession of an illegal firearm, the one most likely to be charged with an offense. God only knew he needed the commission pay. He was almost at the fringes of the group when his radio sparked to life  
“Ichigo, get back! They’re going to shoot!” Rukia’s distressed voice rang into his earpiece and he lurched backwards from the group. A series of sharp, quick sounds filled his ears as the reason for the few windows in The Council buildings became obvious – they had their guards set up to snipe from there. It was eerie, how silently the bodies in front of him fell, the fear and screams that tore through the crowd as they struggled to spread themselves out to run away, only to trip over their fallen comrades. Distantly, Ichigo heard the voices of the two quieter leaders calling for them to retreat and felt a sort of relief – only fools led their men into certain death.

Then he spied his target breaking away from the side of the group, and he raced after him down the street. “Stop! You're under arrest!” He bellowed, ripping his stupid hat off his head and holding onto it with white knuckles. The man ahead glanced back and he heard him let out a cackle. “This is your last chance, citizen! I am **armed** and I will **shoot**!”  
“As if!” The man called back to him, skidding around a corner and into an alleyway. Ichigo rounded the corner himself in time to see his target clambering over a short wall and through into the next street. With a curse, Ichigo heaved himself over and tried to close the distance. They were closer now, which Ichigo later thought was strange, because the man in question was obviously a lot more fit than he was, as well as a lot more used to running away from authority. Now that they were closer, he could see the man’s blue hair sticking out where his hood had fallen down. What the fuck kind of colour is that?  
“This isn’t worth your life, citizen!” he shouted, enraged when the man laughed at him once again. They were getting so close to the edge of the city now, and Ichigo struggled to remember which way the streets led in this area – there was barely anything to come out here for, mostly because it was on the lip of ‘Noches. Ichigo blanched at the idea – no way was he authorised to go running after criminals alone in an area like that. He wouldn’t last ten minutes. He just had to catch this one man before he slunk into the shadows of that place.  
The man must have known that as well, because he suddenly turned and aimed his gun at Ichigo. A warning shot.  
The ginger cursed and quickly spun around a corner as the bullet grazed the top of his arm, and when he turned back, the man had disappeared.

\---

“Stop being such a big baby, I can’t believe you ran off like that!” Rukia admonished, wrapping the bandage a little too tightly around his bicep, “Byakuya is going to be so mad when he gets wind of this.”  
Ichigo scoffed and looked away, he couldn’t look her in the eye – hadn’t been able to since they’d met up on his way back to the station. How could he stand up straight and be proud of himself when he debriefed with her brother after he’d left her there to defend herself? And then, to top it all off, he hadn’t even caught the man he’d run off after. _And_ he’d gotten himself shot, even if it was only a small graze to his arm. It certainly wasn’t the first time he’d made poor choices at work, but it might well have been the worst so far.  
She finished taping the bandage and sat back to admire her work, “There, all good. Don’t forget to change the dressing after your shower later.” She leaned in and gave a dramatic sniff, “And you do _need_ a shower, stinky.”  
She was trying to cheer him up, he knew. More than anything, he wanted to just grab onto her and tell her how sorry he was, how he wouldn’t leave her to defend herself like that again, how he was glad she was okay. But it was so hard, harder than just thanking her and walking away. So once again, he left her alone in the quiet first aid room, staring at his back as he slouched back to his desk.

She'd joined him at their shared desk a while later, all smiles and wisecracks though in her eyes she looked hurt. Ichigo let out a sigh, it was a nightmare getting Rukia to do her paperwork when she didn’t feel great, which meant he’d be doing most of the work. He got started, leafing through to see if there was anything brief enough that it might capture Rukia’s attention for the right amount of time. He found a file that just needed a few corrections and a signature and passed it over to her, freezing when her fingers caught his jacket sleeve.  
“Hey so… I was thinking, did you want to go out sometime? It’s been ages since we’ve done something fun.” She looked at him expectantly, “Maybe we could go out this evening? If you feel up to it. We could see a movie? Or just go for a walk?”  
He let himself pull on a fake little smile, if she wanted to go to this much effort to cheer him up, he’d indulge her. “Sure, I’m meeting with Uryu after work, I’ll bring him too.” He turned back to his desk, “Message me when you’re ready to meet and where and we’ll be straight over.”  
“Yeah, sounds perfect.” Unseen, Rukia’s smile slipped from her lips.

\---

The movie turned out to be a major disappointment, all things considered. They left the half-dark theatre and filed out into the warm evening. Uryu’s eyes had been shut through the entire movie, and he seemed to be having a little trouble waking himself, even with Ichigo nudging him every few steps to keep walking.

“Oh man, that was such a good movie.”

Ichigo knew, he goddamn knew that Rukia hadn’t told him she was inviting Renji because he wouldn’t have turned up if he knew. His stupid red ponytail and the way he wore his ridiculous architect blazer every-fucking-where he went: everything he did just pissed Ichigo straight off. He didn’t care that he was Rukia’s childhood friend, he was just too much to deal with. And even worse, he thought that the three of them were the best of friends.  
“It sucked, Renji.” He finally bit out, “It was so predictable. In fact, don’t you think it was exactly the same as that movie Proprietor that came out last year?”  
Rukia nodded, “It was pretty similar, but I think this one was pretty good.”  
Renji looked flabbergasted, “What are you talking about, Ichigo?! The Councilman is nothing like Proprietor! And also, that scene where Councilman Hugo sacrificed himself for the good of the city is definitely iconic, I’m sure we’ll be talking about that for years to come!”  
Uryu slid his eyes over the group, “Didn’t that exact scene happen in four other movies last year? I feel like they all blend into one lately.” He sighed and lit up his watch with his index finger, “We’ve still got some time before we have to get our shuttle, shall we go for a walk?”  
They agreed, and began to meander in the general direction of the nearest shuttle station. By the time they reached it, there was still a considerable wait, so they carried on walking past the grey buildings and across roads and tracks until finally, they reached the fence.  
Well, the first fence.

Ichigo leaned his hands against the clean, transparent plastic as they gazed out across the burnt-out grass. A few metres away they could see the second fence, even through the first plastic wall they could hear the hum of electricity.  
They weren’t sure why, but they stood there in silence for a while, just gazing out into grass and the dense layer of trees beyond.  
Finally, Ichigo broke the silence. “Do you really think there’s nothing out there?”  
Rukia turned to look at him incredulously, “What are you talking about, Ichigo? You can see for yourself that there’s nothing past the city but dead grass and some trees.”  
He screwed up his face and carried on staring. “Yeah, I guess. It just seems pretty unlikely, you know?”  
This time it was Uryu who frowned at him, “What are you saying, Kurosaki? That there’s something worth seeing out there?”  
“No I just… I just think it can’t be just us. There’s no way there’s no other cities out there. They might need our help and we just stay here, safe behind our walls.”  
To his surprise, Renji reached out and grabbed his arm. “Ichigo, there’s nothing out there. You need to be careful who hears you saying things like this.” He tightened his grip as Ichigo tried to pull his arm away, “I mean it. I don’t want to see you get carted away because someone hears you talking like a goddamned Hollow.”  
“Get your hand off me, Abarai.”  
Rukia gently laid her hand on top of Renji’s and looked straight into Ichigo’s eyes, “Ichigo, look. Nobody’s ever seen somebody from outside the fences, not even once. Don’t you think if someone needed our help, they’d come and ask for it?”  
‘ _maybe they can’t_ ’ Ichigo wanted to scream at her ‘ _maybe they don’t have the means or they’re trapped, just like we are_ ’. But in the end he said nothing, just pulled his arm away from their hold. With a sound of affirmation, he led the way back to the shuttle station.

They bid farewell to Renji and Rukia as they got off at their stop and Ichigo and Uryu waited in silence for their transfer. They often lapsed into comfortable silences in each others’ company, not feeling the need to speak when the other already understood perfectly. However, this was definitely not one of those times and Ichigo could see that Uryu was uneasy about the discussion earlier. Rukia and Renji had forgotten as soon as they had gotten into an area where they could be overheard discussing taboo subjects, but Ichigo and Uryu had both remained more or less silent – neither wanting to undermine the other’s point of view.  
Finally, Uryu broke their stony silence, “Rukia mentioned you got shot at that protest earlier. They wanted that guy’s sentence changed, right? Is that what’s got you thinking about this?”  
Ichigo continued to stare out of the window at the sea of grey, “Not really. I don’t think it’s a fair sentence, but I’m not going to become a Hollow or anything like that.”  
Uryu seemed genuinely surprised, “You don’t? You work for Security... And he knew the law, after all. Its not as if it’s vague.”  
“Life imprisonment for just trying to go over a fence? It just doesn’t make much sense. Ah, but,” Ichigo glanced warily around them, “I think The Council are perfectly entitled to sentence whatever they want.” Uryu nodded knowingly and they sat for the rest of the journey in complete silence.  
After they disembarked and headed into the building, Uryu snagged his arm. “Ichigo, I know we don’t all see eye-to-eye over this but,” he gave a pointed glare to a couple taking too long to vacate the hallway they were stood in. He lowered his voice, leaning his thin frame against Ichigo’s firm body to whisper to him, “Renji’s right, you need to be careful with what you say in public.”  
Ichigo, unwilling to visit this topic again, grunted unhappily at him and slid his card along the lock, opening his front door. Not that he’d escape, he knew Uryu would follow him inside and make himself unwelcome. He always did when he wanted something.  
“I’m serious, Ichigo!” Uryu let his voice reach its’ normal, quiet volume, “I don’t want you disappearing on me.”  
Stripping down to his trousers, Ichigo turned his gaze to his friend, “I’m not going anywhere, Uryu. I’m sorry for saying anything about it at all.”  
Uryu avoided his gaze and settled on the edge of his bed. He took his glasses off an massaged his tired eyelids. “I just… you remember Orihime and her brother used to say things like that? Things about how there must be other people who needed help and how we should be allowed outside.”  
Ichigo bristled. Orihime was a topic that was definitely out of bounds when he was concerned. “Uryu, just drop it.” He took a step closer and noted how the smaller man’s eyes darted about his unlit apartment, unwilling to look at his bare torso for more than a moment. He slowly stretched out his arm and gently rested his hand on Uryu’s upper arm. “Hey, do you wanna stay here tonight? You look like you need the company…” his words were barely a whisper, dancing across Uryu's skin like cold flames.  
“Ichigo…” Uryu sighed as said man leaned in to press their lips together. Their kiss was just like every other one they’d shared, gentle but passionless. Just two young men with nothing better to do taking their stresses and upset out on each other. It wasn’t like there was anything between the two of them – not seriously, anyway. It was an unspoken rule that neither of them would discuss taking their relationship any further than friends who sometimes fooled around together. A kiss was usually just a way for one of them to convince the other to spend the night, a way of not being so alone.  
“Ichigo, no I just…” he sighed as Ichigo pulled away, hurt plain on his features. Uryu gently pushed his way out towards the door, “I just can’t right now, okay?”  
Ichigo took a step towards him, but made no move to block the door, “Uryu it’s fine, it’s not like anyone’s gonna find out. Nobody’s ever found out before, right?” When the dark haired man wouldn’t look him in the eye he took another step until he was close enough to touch his friend’s shoulder, “Uryu come on, we don’t even have to do anything, you can just stay with me.”  
“No, that’s not the point, Ichigo!”  
“Then what’s wrong?!”  
Uryu massaged his temple and set his hand on the doorknob, “I… youre just taking too many risks at the minute, Ichigo Kurosaki! I can’t handle the idea of you getting caught for one thing or another and getting taken away!” He yanked the door open and shrugged off Ichigo’s stunned touch, “If you really value our friendship then have a good think about how you’ve behaved today!” He stormed out of the small apartment, shutting the door behind him.  
Ichigo shut his eyes and let his weary head fall forwards, gazing at the spot his hand hadn’t moved from, where it had rested on Uryu’s shoulder. Had he fucked up? Was it really that bad to wonder about what lay outside of their tiny world? He just didn’t know how long he could ignore the feeling gnawing at his stomach, wanting to explore and to be free.  
But his friendships with Uryu and Rukia… they were more important than any feeling. They were real.  
So he vowed to let the topic go for their sakes, and took the bandages off his arm to get into the shower, ready to get up again at 6:00AM the next morning.

* * *

 

Hollow  
ˈhɒləʊ  
Adjective  
1) To be empty  
Noun  
1) An individual residing in The City who does not agree with The Council's ideology or decisions.  
Identifiable by attempts to leave the safety of The City, staging protests against The Council, refusal to engage in employment expected of citizens of The City

Proprietor  
prəˈpraɪətə  
Noun  
1) Short film starring Marina Jensen as Peacekeeper Richards  
Run time 30 mins  
Genre; Propoganda/action

The Councilman  
ðə ˈkaʊns(ə)lmən  
Noun  
1) Short film staring Michael Yitton as Councilman Hugo  
Run time 25 mins  
Genre; Propoganda/action

Homosexuality  
ˈhəʊməʊsɛksjʊˈælɪti  
Noun  
1) Sexual attraction to one's own gender  
An individual with homosexuality is a homosexual  
2) An punishable offence in The City following Council decree #67482  
3) An indicator of an individual becoming a Hollow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, a longer one this time, sorry the first chapter was a bit short, but then I hope this one isn't too long either.  
> The punishment for homosexuality in The City is a significant fine and your employer is given the choice to terminate your employment, just fyi. Obviously they'd then be observing you to see if you were a Hollow, too.  
> Also whoa it's Grimmjow  
> I'll try not to change the POV too often bc that can be disorienting but it'll probably happen at some points.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ichigo has a bad time at work part 2

Uryu behaved almost-normally when they met in the lobby in the morning, which was a blessing. Ichigo was not prepared to deal with his silent treatments every day until he was forgiven for doing jack shit. True to his promise to himself, Ichigo purposefully avoided any conversation topics which could even possibly be construed as being taboo, even choosing to sit a seat away from his friend. If Uryu noticed the change, he declined to let it show on his typically-stoic face. He was being a little short, and contributing very little to the conversation Ichigo was attempting to provide, but he was trying at all, which was something when his petty friend was concerned.

They were still friends, and Ichigo intended for things to stay that way. No amount of curiosity was worth losing Uryu’s trust. Ichigo officially (and internally) renewed his vow from the previous night to henceforth lose all interest in anything that didn’t involve work or his relationships.

Leaving the shuttle, he and Uryu made plans to go for a walk together – something they often did when Uryu needed to bounce project ideas off of someone with (as he put it) a more basic mind – and turned their different directions to head to their workplaces.

This continued on as their routine for several days, stretching onto a week and then more, before Uryu finally cracked and started poking fun at him again and began to speak more comfortably about the news highlights on his tablet each morning, commenting on who he thought did what at work and where Ichigo’s neighbour might have moved to. Things were back to normal, and Ichigo had kept his promise not to mention anything strange for a whole week and a half.

* * *

Momo Hinamori, the junior administrator working the front desk that morning, was behaving strangely. First, she’d asked Ichigo to wait while she called up to ‘let them know he’d arrived’. Since when did Byakuya need to be alerted as soon as he walked into the building? Secondly, she’d taken his Security badge to scan it into the computer system, as if he was some kind of visitor.

He leaned forwards, resting his forearm on the separator of her desk, “What’s going on, Miss Hinamori?”

“Oh…” fingers twitching, she slid his ID across the desk towards him, distracted by something on her hidden screen, “Ichigo, I’ve told you before to call me Momo.” Her face was guilty as she raked her chocolate-brown eyes down what was probably an email, “I’m not sure if I’m meant to tell you, to be honest. I don’t want to get into trouble, but…”

“Is something wrong? I’ve never had to have these kind of checks just to come into work, _Momo_.” At the added emphasis on her first name, the girl in question bit onto her lip and glanced around towards the rowdy office to their left. Nervously, she beckoned him closer and stood from her chair.

“It’s just… there’s someone here to see you this morning, Ichigo.” She half-whispered, conspirationally.

Ichigo quirked an eyebrow and felt an amused smirk rising on his lips, “What, this is all because a client is here? Come on, this is ridiculous.”

She shook her head as discretely as possible and made a show of patting down her pinstriped skirt as another officer brushed past behind Ichigo and filed into an open office nearby. Leaning in once more she lowered her voice to little more than a breath, “ _they said they were from The Council.”_

He felt the smirk immediately drop from his lips as she quickly sat back down, effectively shutting off their conversation. Biting down the curse bubbling upon his lips, he snatched up his Security Pass and stormed towards the busy staircase.

In all his time at Security, he couldn’t recall even once hearing about someone from The Council setting foot inside the building, let alone coming to see someone as low-ranked as himself. He had to be in big trouble, there was no other explanation he could even consider. Shit, he wished he’d had warning so that he could have talked it over with Uryu, but he knew exactly what his friend would think they were visiting about. And there was just no way they’d bother sending someone from The Council to his workplace just because they’d somehow found out about what the two men did in the dark. Right?

Faces of colleagues and bosses blurred past as Ichigo almost barrelled his way to Byakuya’s office, almost crushing poor Rukia, who had come to meet him in the hallway. Even for her, she was pale and looked shaken. Before she had the chance to open her mouth, he had pushed past her with a knowing look and stepped into the tense silence of their office.

Byakuya’s cubicle windows, lining the back wall, had the shutters down, which was never a good sign. As he and Rukia walked in and toward their desk, he was pretty sure that every single person in the office had one of two reactions – to either stare at them or look in any direction apart from the uppermost corner where their desk lay. The only sound was the rhythmic clicking of computer keys and the rapid shuffling of paper files. Even the noise from the hallway outside seemed unable to permeate into the sizeable room.

“Okay…” He took a deep breath and shrugged off his thin jacket before depositing his briefcase onto the floor under his desk. Next to him, Rukia slowly lowered herself into her desk chair – her fingers immediately finding her computer keyboard where she had already picked loose one of the keys. Her huge eyes flickered constantly between her partner and her brother’s office, as if she were trying to choose which she would defend in a fight to the death. Great, he was thinking the worst already. He turned to Rukia and offered her a nervous smile, “It’s gonna be fine, yeah?” She swallowed thickly and nodded quickly, before turning her eyes back to the office.

Surprisingly, Ichigo managed to get through a whole section of paperwork before Byakuya appeared at the end of their desk. Byakuya Kuchiki reminded him, in some ways, of Uryu. They were both absolutely miserable ninety-percent of the time and had the appearance of caring about precious little. That was not the Byakuya that was standing before them in that moment, however. He had never seen Rukia’s brother look at him with such worry when it wasn’t dedicated solely towards his sister’s safety. This was going to be painful, he could already tell.

“Please can I see the two of you in my office, a matter of great importance has been brought to my attention.” As always, his words slid out like soft velvet, and Rukia seemed to relax under her brother’s gaze as she responded in affirmation and darted towards his office door, shooting nervous looked between her partner and her brother once again.

Byakuya waited until her gaze had vanished into the dark of his office before clapping his large hand down onto Ichigo’s uninjured shoulder. “Kurosaki. I’m sure you’ve heard that a very important and _influential_  individual is here to see you and Rukia today.” He bent slightly, bringing himself closer to Ichigo’s face, “I don’t know what you’ve done this time, but you had best mind how you speak in this meeting.”

Ichigo nodded in understanding: if anything were to dirty his name with Security, then Rukia should surely face punishment as well. It was only right for Byakuya to be concerned about his sister’s wellbeing and career. Still, it was somewhat comforting that Rukia had also been invited into the meeting. At least it wouldn’t involve where his genitals had been.

He hadn’t realised he was standing still until Byakuya sighed and shoved him by the arm he had been holding towards the back of the office.

Inside the office, every single external window had been covered by white blinds. Ichigo instantly felt dislike for the individual sitting in Byakuya’s seat. Superintendent Kuchiki made it very clear to his personal cleaners that the blinds should remain open no matter what. Rukia had told him once that it made him feel trapped if he couldn’t at least see the sky. It was an unspoken sign of respect that their office blinds were never closed, either. No matter how the sun glared upon their computer screens or how bad a migraine someone had.

Byakuya himself elected to stand beside his desk, in front of a tall banner displaying the Security Values. To the other side of the desk there stood a Council Guard, his entire body covered in their creepy white uniform, the cloth hanging over his face. Turning his head a fraction, Ichigo noted another two standing on either side of the inside of the door. With a wordless signal from the man at the desk, one of them turned and stood outside of the office, closing the door as he positioned himself.

“So glad you could join us, Constable Kurosaki, Constable Kuchiki.” The man gestured towards the matching chairs across from him, “Please, let’s sit and have a little chat, hmm?” They did as they were bidden and Ichigo had to fight the urge to take Rukia’s shaking hand in his own when he saw it clenched around her uniform skirt on her knee from the corner of his eye.

“So then… I was reading two very interesting reports from that little unauthorised get-together just the other day.” The man smiled at them, and it sent shivers down Ichigo’s spine. He was pretty creepy, but maybe that was just because he was from The Council. An unexpected, never-before-experienced experience. He leaned back and tapped the tips of his fingers together, turning towards Rukia, “If you don’t mind, Constable Kuchiki, I’d _love_ to hear how you’d describe what happened that day.”

She sat bolt upright, and he could see the panic in her eyes. Had they done something so wrong during the protest? Was there a problem with their reports? Did they say different things? Her lavender eyes darted over to him, and he gave her the tiniest of nods, which he hoped she would feel was supportive. She took a deep breath and began to recount the story, from the beginning of their deployment until the moment they had both returned to the office.

Ichigo took the time during her explanation to examine the man in front of them while Rukia seemingly held his full attention. He was so thin that Ichigo had to wonder if The Council fed their workers, or if they had a different form of nutrition to the rest of them – his hands were bony, with long fingers that he probably would have found attractive if they were on somebody else, in a different situation. His face was angular, and Ichigo supposed he was attractive in a general way, although his silver hair on someone so young was definitely unusual. So was the way he seemed unable to open his eyes more than a thin slit. How on earth had he read their reports with his eyes nearly shut? As if he could sense that he was being watched, his eyes swivelled across to look directly at Ichigo, and he grinned. Ichigo forced down bile. This guy was terrifying. How could such a thin, skeleton of a man possibly have such a presence in a room of this size?

“My, what a tale!” He turned back to Rukia and stood from his chair, “That was very enlightening, Constable Kuchiki. Thank you for that.” He waved his hand toward the guard on their side of the door and it opened. Byakuya immediately surged forwards and almost dragged Rukia out of her chair, ignoring the beginnings of a complaint on her tongue. As soon as they were out of the room, and the door shut behind them, the man began to pace the office. “So, that just leaves your story, _I-chi-go_. Oh!” he spun around and regarded the young man sitting in the too-small chair, “I’m terribly sorry, you don’t mind if I call you _Ichigo_ do you? _Constable Kurosaki_ is just _such_ a mouthful.”

“No, of course.” It made him feel sick.

“Oh, good.” He almost swooped down into the seat Rukia had previously occupied. “Now, Ichigo, I don’t think I explained to you who _exactly_ I am. My name is Ichimaru, and I’ve just been having a word with Superintendent Kuchiki about your report.” He held out a hand and the Guard that had been standing by the desk produced a tablet for him. He pretended to skim over it, although he probably knew it off by heart already – the creep.

“They told me you’re from The Council.”

Ichimaru leaned forwards with genuine interest, the tablet lying forgotten in his long fingered hands, “ _Did_ they now?” Ichigo had never regretted opening his big mouth more in his life. The creep chuckled and leaned back against the chair, “ _The Council_ , how amusing. I suppose you could say I’m something like them, yes. You see, the thing is, Ichigo, there’s something in your report that doesn’t make sense. It isn’t right.”

Ichigo blinked, “Excuse me?”

“Well, put frankly it’s a lie.”

He felt his temper rising and willed himself to remain calm, “What exactly am I being accused of, _Mr_ Ichimaru?”

“Ah, well you see, it’s right here.” One bony claw dragged down his own cheek as Ichimaru scrolled through his rather lengthy report, “Ah-ha. Here we go, you detailed, on page 10, that shortly before giving chase to the Hollowed individual who shot at you, you witnessed a Council Guard – one of these big boys, yes?” he gestured toward one of the hulking white figures, “You say you saw one of these individuals get shot? And you say he fell – you thought it was a fatal shot, yes?”

Ichigo frowned, leaning forwards onto his knees, “Well… yeah, that’s what happened. I don’t know if he was okay or not, because I chased after the Hollow, but it seemed pretty fatal to me – depends if the Mobile Unit came with a medic, I suppose.” He raised his shoulders, trying to see what Ichimaru was thinking, “What are you saying?”

Ichimaru tapped onto his tablet a little more, eventually bringing up crystal clear camera footage of the protest. From the angle of the shot, Ichigo gathered that it was a Security Camera mounted above The Council Building’s front entrance. The clip hadn’t started rolling yet, but Ichigo could see that it was showing the area where the Guard had been shot. “What I’m trying to say to you, Ichigo, is that you’re incorrect in your report.” A sharp finger tapped the play button and Ichigo watched the blue-haired hollow advance on the cluster of Guards surrounding the door. He saw the man turn and shout, assumedly when he and Rukia had arrived, and he watched the man suddenly turn and bolt the instant the crowd began to surge forwards and the protest turned violent. He watched himself hurtle past in pursuit. What he didn’t see, however, was any of the guards experiencing the slightest bit of pain – including a gunshot.

The video ended and he sat back, knuckles white from his grip on the arms of the chair, “I.. I don’t understand, I saw…”

Ichimaru shot him another disgusting smile, “You didn’t see anything, Ichigo. You know, no Council Guard has ever, in the history of the establishment, recorded an injury of any kind.”

“No! I saw that man get shot, it was that o-“ he leant forward to point to the guard in question but Ichimaru pulled the tablet away, grabbing Ichigo’s wrist instead and holding him as he was – leant forward.

“Ichigo, you didn’t see anything, understand?” Another devious smile, “Don’t you see? You just made a mistake. It would be best if you just accepted that.” His smile widened as he gestured toward the door to the room, “After all, it wouldn’t do to have a pair of lying _corrupt_ Security officers working together, would it?”

The door opened and Ichimaru’s grip loosened enough for him to whip his arm away. Another strange man stepped over the threshold, the complete opposite of Ichimaru. Someone truly must have though it amusing to put these two together – Ichimaru pale and thin and his companion dark, muscular with thick twists of black hair.

“Gin.” The stranger said, just a hint of disapproval, “It is time to go.”

Ichimaru smiled a slightly less eerie smile at Ichigo as he took to his feet and topped his head with an officer hat, “Gotcha, Tosen.” He clicked his fingers and the two Guards remaining in the room filed out before the man named Tosen. Ichigo had begun to relax when Ichimaru suddenly bent down to grab at his face, “Goodbye, _Constable Kurosaki_. I do certainly hope we don’t have to speak about this again, don’t you?” The fingers grasping his cheek and chin tightened painfully before abruptly releasing him, and like that the two men from The Council were gone.

“Kurosaki?”

Ichigo visibly slumped at the sound of Byakuya’s voice behind him as the door clicked open and then shut again. With a grunt of annoyance, the Superintendent set about opening up the blinds and sweeping down his chair before sitting down to face Ichigo.

“You may find this surprising to hear from me, Kurosaki. But I am genuinely pleased that you are still sitting here before me, employed and unharmed.”

Ichigo groaned, “Shouldn’t you have been more worried about Rukia?”

Byakuya let out a rare chuckle, “I am, of course, but I was also concerned about you. You may return to your desk, constable. My sister is aching to ask you questions you shouldn’t answer, no doubt.” He waved a hand in the direction of the door as he booted up his computer. Ichigo had just set his hand on the knob when he was called back.

Byakuya was looking at him with a strange sort of fondness, even looking as if he himself was unsure of his feelings, “You have the makings of an excellent Security Officer. I would be severely disappointed if your career were to meet an early end.”

“Oh…yes. Thank you sir.” Ichigo stuttered out, stunned. Could his luck with his boss possibly be taking a new turn? Would he finally be able to feel worthy of working with Rukia as her partner?

“Now get out, thank you.”

Well, baby steps, right?

* * *

 

“Are you _shitting_ me right now, Kurosaki?” Uryu spluttered, wiping his water from his lips. He was sitting on Ichigo’s bed, staring incredulously at the ginger as he told him about his meeting with Ichimaru.

Shaking his head, Ichigo turned back to the small mountain of paperwork he was attempting to fool himself into believing he was filling out and roughly pulled a file towards his chest, “That’s what happened, Uryu.” They lapsed into silence for a few moments while Uryu toyed with his water bottle, tapping his nails against the pristine glass. Ichigo sighed and leaned back, resigned to actually filling out his paperwork, “Necessary – two S’ or one?”

“Two. Are you sure he was from The Council? He definitely said that to you?”

Ichigo squeezed in an S onto the paper and immediately started to doodle on the block of sticky notes next to the folder. It was already significantly reduced, and there was a small-but-steadily-growing stack of scrawled drawings on the floor beside his chair. This drawing, he’d decided, would be Uryu Ishida, the master distracter. He smirked a little as he scribbled on thick, angry eyebrows above his slim glasses.

“Kurosaki, did he say that to you or not?”

“Well, I mean he didn’t deny it when I asked him, you know?”

Uryu flung the top from his bottle at his head, “Stop drawing me like that, you fool. I can’t believe you thought he was from The Council and you outright _asked_ him about it. Do you have some kind of death wish? First all that shit the other week, and now _this_?” He dragged his hand down his face with a weary groan.

Ichigo felt that he should stay quiet. As far as he was aware, they’d been doing a very good job of consciously not mentioning their disagreement. Honestly, he wasn’t ready to revisit angry-friend town anytime soon, and if he could avoid the topic any further, he definitely would. So instead of answering Uryu properly, he just grunted and added a curled moustache to his drawing, much to Uryu’s chagrin.

It wasn’t until later that night, when his paperwork was long forgotten and they were lying in bed together that Uryu suggested that The Council were probably watching him. His words hit the silence like a sledgehammer, and Ichigo felt a cold pooling in his stomach.

If Uryu were right, they’d probably know about what they had _just_ done, and they’d know that he’d told Uryu about his meeting with Ichimaru, which Byakuya had strictly told both he and Rukia was _private_. And the idea of someone as important as Ichimaru – or anyone else from The Council – stooping as low as to spy on a lowly constable was just so _laughable_.

Ichigo had just murmured for Uryu to stop worrying about it and kissed him, eager to disperse the tension building in his shoulders and to wipe the frown from his face.


	4. Jaegerjaquez

                He hadn’t killed him with that gunshot. That was fine. Not like he’d been trying, really. He could have, if he wanted. He could have taken every single one of them out without breaking a sweat. But then the girl would _cry_ and everyone would be so pissy about the whole thing. Not worth it, if you were wondering.

                Grimmjow tutted as some snot-nosed little shit bumped his shin in a feeble attempt to steal his phone from his hand – not happening, as it turned out. He sent a half-hearted kick in the urchin’s direction and carried on down the dilapidated streets of Las Noches.

                He’d seen him since, that ginger Security boy. Had watched him tackle a petty thief who’d dared to try to steal from one of the common shops nestled into the border of Las Noches. It made him feel sick, watching that stupid fuck standing all proud, getting praised by his colleagues because yet another family would lose a parent. Yet another person would disappear from the streets of Las Noches, and Security Constable Ginger-face wouldn’t give two shits, even if he noticed.

                He rounded a corner and, after a quick check over both shoulders, lifted the boards covering a door and slipped into a house that seemed little more than an abandoned toolshed. What was the point in a safehouse if it looked like one, right? Just 45 steps between The Council’s gaze and almost-freedom and they had no clue. How pitiful.

The peephole covering slid open as he neared the bottom of the stairs, and he caught a glimpse of a single, narrowed eye before the door was pulled open. “Y’ took long enough.”

Grimmjow scowled and resisted the urge to spit in Nnoitra’s face. “Shut the fuck up, I got your stupid shit, be grateful would you?” He threw the paper bag at the Towering Twig that was Nnoitra, revelling in the panicked shout as his precious juice threatened to spill.

God, the guy was a massive pain in the ass. Leaving him to carry on watching the door, he headed further into their hollowed-out cave system under the city. It was impressive, he had to admit, that such a small group had managed to infiltrate the way that they had. He slunk into the shadows that consumed the short maze of hallways and listened. In another room, he could hear the wood-slapping noises of some tools playing cards. Better than certain other noises he could be hearing, he guessed. The only noise in their main meeting room was Harribel's chewed nails hammering away on her laptop keys.

As for the cavernous room itself, it wasn’t a thing of beauty, that’s for sure. A large circle, really, with a dining table sized surface in the centre. He’d made that himself, fashioned from the floor of the toolshed how it had been when they’d arrived. He remembered being vaguely proud of his handiwork, until Nnoitra immediately spilled shit onto it and ruined it. He eyed the dark stain on the furthest corner with disdain at the memory. The girls had gotten to the room since he’d installed his art piece, furnishing the floor with stupid pointless bits of rag and cushions and collecting different types of oil lamp. He didn’t understand, but he wasn’t about to argue with Harribel about _throw cushions_ of all things. Speaking of…

“I bought some more oil while I was out.” He set the bottle down on the table and she tutted and shoved it away.

“Not near my computer, Grimmjow.” She finished the sentence of code she was working on and raised her gaze to his scowl, “Thank you for collecting that for me. You are far more successful at being subtle than I am.”

“I’m not your fucking errand boy, Harribel.”

She laughed at that, the soft noise filling the space and echoing down the hallway. She pulled her scarf over her face better and gestured for him to sit opposite her.

“I really don’t know where to go from here, if I’m honest with you.” She sighed, spinning her laptop around to show him the screen. An array of Security footage was playing, each image labelled with the location the camera was showing. “There’s nothing on _any_ of these cameras that we can use as leverage, and we can’t get in with the door guarded constantly.” Her fingers drumming on the wood was driving him crazy.

“Maybe we should just storm in and get out before they can do anything.” It was a stupid answer, and he didn’t mean it, but _god_ he was so sick of hearing this shit.

“You know we can’t, Grimmjow. It’s right next to the Security office, how long exactly do you think they’ll take to come next door?”

“You’re the strategist, Harribel. Not me.”

She frowned at his sudden apparent interest in the seams of a battered cushion and snatched it out of his hands, “I just don’t understand it, Grimmjow. It was so easy to get the team in here, and it was so easy to hack into their footage systems. Why are we getting stopped here?” her gnawed fingernails started their rhythmic tapping again, as she drummed out a song from home.

He hadn’t heard that song in such a long time, none of them had the will to sing much anymore. Not after some of the shit they’d seen. He’d been lost in the tune for quite some time when he realised he’d been paying less attention to the blob of orange moving around on one of the cameras than he thought.

“That’s the guy I shot.” He murmured, jabbing his (definitely not clean enough, ew) finger into the screen and ignoring Harribel’s noise of disgust as she pulled his arm back. “That fucking Security Officer. Who’s that?”

Harribel shook her head, “I don’t know, we only managed to get public-access files about personnel, so only the top guys. I guess he’s just some generic grunt.” Her eyes flicked up to meet Grimmjow’s, “What on earth are you plotting, Grimmjow?”

“Not really sure yet, gotta do a bit more digging before I can say…”

She watched him peel the skin around his nails in disgust before batting away the offending appendage. “I wish you’d let me into that thick skull of yours, Jaegerjaquez. Just for once.” They lapsed into an uncomfortable silence.

 

* * *

 

                Why did phones have to be so expensive? And why did they have to be so vital? Ichigo gnawed on his thumnail as he surveyed the shop wall in front of him. He’d dropped his work phone in the elevator in his apartment a few months previous, and although it had taken its fair share of beatings before, this one seemed to top it all off. Foolishly, he’d believed that he could survive without it. It wasn’t like he used it that much anyway; unlike Uryuu, his fingers could exist without maintaining contact to some sort of device. Rukia had thought otherwise, and therefore Byakuya had also thought otherwise. So there he was, looking to spend the majority of his wages on a stupid phone he didn’t want all because his boss’ sister hadn’t been able to swap shifts with him without walking to his apartment.

                Whether it was for phones, clothes or anything else, Ichigo couldn’t stand to browse shops. Usually he arrived armed with a list of specifically what he wanted so that he could get in and out with as little fuss as possible. It wasn’t that he didn’t like spending money, it was just that the _people_ in shops were so… unyielding. For instance, the store he was in at that precise moment was busy, but it wasn’t exactly _heaving_ with shoppers. So why the everloving _fuck_ was the guy standing next to him hugging his side as if he was a goddamn cushion? He was about to stomp his boots and give this asshole a piece of his mind when he registered that the guy was looking at him, and his lips were moving, too.

“Oh, uh… what, sorry?”

The stranger showed him a toothy grin, and Ichigo felt his knees quake. “I was just sayin’… you’re just the fella’ I was hoping to see today.”

“Um… can I help you with something?” He said, scanning his eyes up the strange man. He didn’t really recognise him, they weren’t similar in age enough to have trained for Security together, but he didn’t look like any client he had helped since joining, either. Still… there was definitely something about him that was familiar.

“Didn’t bring your miniature girlfriend along with you today? Wasn’t aware you Security _pricks_ could handle being outside on your own.” The man snickered to himself and reached out to grab a pamphlet from the shelf.

Ichigo’s jaw tightened as his mind clicked into place, “You’re that runaway Hollow, right? Here to give yourself up?” He turned to call out for someone to call the Security office - a shine of metal inside the breast of the stranger’s coat made him still.

“Careful now, _Mister Security._ Things get too rowdy in here and who knows what could happen?” He nodded towards the checkout line, “Man, any one of those cute chicks could end up with a bullet in their eye.” His eyes drifted back towards the pamphlet, and he pulled his coat more shut to conceal the gun. “All I want is a quick chat, Kurosaki.”

Ichigo swallowed, and felt his knees wobble again. He was off duty, not even armed with his taser. If the Hollow decided to open fire in such a busy place… “I won’t even ask how you know my name, Hollow. I have nothing to say to you. I’d suggest that you hand yourself in before I call for backup.” ( _With my broken phone…)_

The man snickered again, “Yeah, you do that, Kurosaki.” He reached for a dummy phone and started playing with the buttons, “Don’t you think it’s strange?”

“What is?”

“That there wasn’t any injury to that Guard you watched me shoot stone dead?”

Ichigo froze. The stranger was still talking, but he couldn’t hear. All he heard was the rush of blood in his ears and his pulse pounding in his wrists. “How do you know about that?” He whispered, inwardly cursing a how pathetic his voice came out. “That was a private meeting. Are you fucking spying on me?”

“Calm down, Kurosaki. We can read reports too, ya know?” He grabbed another at another phone. “You didn’t think that was strange, though?”

“What do you _want_ , Hollow?”

“There’s so much weird shit going on in this place, right? And I don’t think that you’ve even _begun_ to notice half of it. But there is no-fucking-way that I’m going to stand here and let you say to me that you believe that you imagined a man dying.” Ichigo didn’t know how this man could keep his voice so level and disinterested speaking such harsh words. “I thought you’d want to know the truth. Aren’t you interested?”

Ichigo let out the breath he didn’t know he had been holding, “Are you… is this some sort of test? Is Ichimaru making you test me like this? Because I know I made a mistake, it happens, right?” The man looked him in the eyes for the first time, and Ichigo couldn’t help but think how fucking _weird_ this guy looked. His eyes were blue but… _too_ blue. And not to mention that ridiculous hair that was poking out from under his beanie hat.

“I thought your whole deal was to protect your precious citizens?”

“It is!” Were those little blue tattoos under the corners of his eyes?

“I think you should be protecting them from guys like this Ichimaru, then.” The man sighed, and put back all the things he had been holding.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean… do you think it’s fine for people in a position of power to lie about the very fundamentals of people’s lives and beliefs?” He slid his bag off of his shoulder, and dropped to his knees to rummage through it.

Oh, Ichigo thought. “You’re nuts, dude. Let me help y-”

“There’s things outside of the glass, Kurosaki.” The man found what he was looking for and rose to his feet. “I’ve seen them. They’re real. There’s so much more to this world than your tiny little bubble, and they won’t let you know about it. Think about that for a while, and call me if you want to know.” He threw what he had retrieved from his bag at Ichigo.

In between Ichigo looking down to catch, fumbling with the lump of plastic and looking back up, the man had vanished. No matter how fast Ichigo raced down the length of the shop and out onto the street, he couldn’t even catch a glimpse of his grey beanie and white coat. Whatever he had been given was cutting grooves into his hand by the time he even thought to look at it.

The lump of plastic turned out to be an older-model phone, half-charged and with a sturdier case than he’d had on his previous phone. It was clearly not new, although it had no call or message history, and only one contact. No photo, email address or details save for their mobile number and contact name

 

 

 

> Jaegerjaquez

 

Later, in the privacy of his bedroom, Ichigo let the foreign sounds of the name fall from his mouth, cringing at how it sounded on his tongue. The man didn’t look like that name suited him, and Ichigo wondered if it was his first name, or possibly a nickname? Maybe Hollows all had stupid codenames like that?

What should he do? Somehow, he didn’t think the number would be traceable, and even if it was…

Perhaps he shouldn’t _do_ anything? Jaegerjaquez had told him to call, so did that mean that if he didn’t, he’d get the message and leave him alone? Somehow, he doubted that, too. His instincts told him to ask Uryuu’s opinion, but his friend’s attitude towards his curiosity was… less than supportive at the minute. Rukia and Renji were ruled out if he decided not to report what had happened to Security…

And that pretty much exhausted his options.

Maybe it would be best to sleep on it, and think more about it after he was done with work the next day, Ichigo rationed. He showered, treated the nearly-healed wound on his arm and sunk into bed, not realising he would sleep restlessly and dream of too-blue eyes watching him.

 

* * *

 

“Well, you look like shit.” Uryuu snarked as they took their Happy Breakfasts together. “Couldn’t sleep?”

Ichigo smirked and leaned in to his ear, “Not without you keeping hogging the sheets, I guess.” He laughed and stepped back as Uryuu’s eyes darkened and he reached out to smack him away. “Chill out, I was only joking. Had some… weird dreams, is all. The kind you don’t remember, but they still make you feel weird in the morning?”

Uryuu merely hummed to let him know that he was _definitely_ listening and there was no way that he’d found his latest news article more interesting than his friend’s nightlife. Ichigo resisted the urge to smack his ass to get his attention.

They drifted out onto the street, and Ichigo marvelled at the way Uryuu could avoid bumping into people with his nose pressed against the glass of his tablet. He even made it all the way into their usual seats on the shuttle before putting his tablet down and regarding his friend with disdain.

“So, did you buy yourself a new phone yet, or not?”

“oh!” Ichigo dug it out of the bottom of his coat pocket. He hadn’t really looked at it since flicking through it before bed, “Yeah, put your number in for me.”

Uryuu scowled at the offered device, “ _Kurosaki!_ This is ancient! Ugh, this is why I told you to let me get you one!” He ignored the profane hand gesture made in his direction and navigated his way through the empty phone. “What kind of a name is _Jaegerjaquez_? Who’s that?”

Ichigo paled. He had been so stupid. He hadn’t even thought, but _obviously_ Uryuu would see the only other contact on the list. Damn, to lie or not lie? Lie or not lie?? Lie or….. “It’s uh, someone I met through work. We bumped into each other while I was buying it yesterday, so they got there before you.” He winked, “Sorry, Uryuu.” That didn’t really count as a lie, right? Oh boy, Uryuu was looking at him with a face that very clearly said ‘you’re lying, Kurosaki’. And yet…Uryuu typed in his number, took a scowling selfie for a contact photo and handed Ichigo his ancient phone back with only a comment about his choice of case. He then immediately busied himself with sorting his briefcase and tablet, leaving Ichigo to gaze out of the window at the scenery flying by.

His heart touched his tonsils when they reached the next stop.

Jaegerjaquez was standing on the platform, staring straight into his soul. He was still wearing that beanie, but his new coat hid most of his face. Ichigo could still tell it was him – he felt like Jaegerjaquez was the sort of man who doesn’t get mistaken for anybody. Out of the corner of his eye, he checked to see if Uryuu had noticed the man staring at them, but his friend was too busy resetting his watch for the umpteenth time. He was kind of glad – if he was going to explain the shitshow Jaegerjaquez was clearly keen to thrust into his life, he didn’t want to have to do it in the 10 minutes before they reached work.

He turned back to scowl at Jaegerjaquez, hoping he’d get the message and get lost. He was met with a smirk and a hand gesture that resembled a telephone resting against his face. “ _Call me!”_ he clearly mouthed, as the shuttle began to roll again.

Well, Ichigo thought, this is fucked.

* * *

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 26/3/19  
> EDIT  
> Made a couple of changes to some things that happened in this chapter and in an earlier chapter. Nothing too major, just wanted to delay character introductions until later on in the story. Writer development, right ;)

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, not my first writing rodeo, but my first time publishing to AO3.  
> Sorry about the wall of dictionary/glossary at the end, but it really bugs me when authors have characters think about things to explain them to the reader when it makes no sense for them to be thinking about basic things like who is related to who, sorry if that isn't your cup of tea.  
> I'm really trying to build this world, though, which is similar to ours but also very different, and I really wanted it to feel as though you were in this world, and if you didn't understand a word, you could just turn to your dictionary app and look it up, hence the dictionary. com type of explanations.  
> Obviously as the story progresses there will be fewer glossary posts at the end of chapters, because I don't want to explain things over and over again.


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